Sydney, July 29: Tanning beds have been ranked alongside cigarettes, arsenic and asbestos as posing the greatest threat of cancer to humans by an international cancer research group.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has moved ultra-violet emitting tanning beds to its highest cancer risk category and labelled them as “carcinogenic to humans” after ruling they are more dangerous than previously suggested.
The France-based agency, which is part of the World Health Organisation, had previously classified sunlamps and tanning beds as “probably” carcinogenic to humans.
The research, published in the latest edition of The Lancet Oncology medical journal, found using tanning beds could increase the risk of developing cancer by 75%, particularly if used by children and young adults.
“The risk of skin melanoma is increased by 75% when use of tanning devices starts before 30 years of age,” said the report.
The IARC report came after scientists from nine countries met in June to reassess the risks of cancer from different types of radiation, with solar radiation the main source of human exposure to ultraviolet radiation.
The IARC has since 1971 published a series of “Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans”, also known as WHO’s encyclopaedia of carcinogens, ranking the risk agents in groups from one to four.
—Agencies